Gary Payton scored 24 points and handed out eight assists in
three quarters as the Seattle SuperSonics crushed the fading
Sacramento Kings, 109-83.

Vin Baker added 20 points and nine rebounds and Detlef Schrempf
contributed 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for the
Sonics, who avoided their first three-game losing streak since
December 11th-14th, 1996 and regained the best record in the
Western Conference by one-half game over the Utah Jazz.

"I really think the starters came out and kind of dictated the
third quarter with our defense and run-outs," Baker said. "It
was nice, I think after this weekend we definitely neded to come
back and get some more confidence going by having a victory like
this."

Tariq Abdul-Wahad scored 18 points and Terry Dehere added 14 for
the Kings, who dropped their season-high eighth straight game
and are 2-15 in their last 17 contests. Sacramento played its
second straight game without leading scorer Mitch Richmond, who
has a sore right knee.

Seattle put the game out of reach late in the second quarter,
surprisingly sparked by Hersey Hawkins. Leading 47-40 with 2:56
remaining in the period, Hawkins -- who had been scoreless on
0-of-13 shooting in the last two games -- hit a running jumper
to ignite an 11-0 surge. He added three more points in the run,
including a free throw to end the half and make it 58-40 at the
break.

"The last three mintues of the first half was the turning point
of the game for us," Sacramento coach Eddie Jordan said. "We
were down seven, we had a little game going, then they ran off
an 11-0 run and we couldn't recover."

The Sonics continued pouring it on in the third, scoring 15 of
the first 21 points to open a 73-46 bulge on Payton's layup.
Payton closed the third quarter and his evening with consecutive
layups to make it 86-54 heading into the fourth.

"I thought we did what we had to do," Seattle coach George Karl
said. "I thought our guys played really aggressive and had some
leads. The first unit really played well the last two or three
minutes of the half and got us a big lead. And then they played
great in the third quarter and got us a really big lead."

The lead grew as large as 92-56 on Greg Anthony's three-pointer
with 10:50 to play before the Kings made it respectable against
the Sonics' reserves.

Hawkins finished with 16 points for the Sonics, who shot 52
percent (44-of-84) from the field and outrebounded the Kings,
42-32.

Anthony Johnson had 13 points and Lawrence Funderburke 11 for
the Kings, who shot 49 percent (35-of-71) and got almost nothing
from Corliss Williamson. Williamson, who had averaged 22.8
points over the last nine games, had only two on 1-of-4 shooting
in 19 minutes.

The win was the 100th for Seattle over Sacramento, the most over
any other opponent.